Researchers at the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) (www.esri-swansea.org) at Swansea University have found a way of converting waste CO₂ into a molecule that can form the basis of making plastics.

The potential of using global ethylene derived from CO₂ is said to be huge, using half a billion tonnes of the carbon emitted each year.

Enrico Andreoli, head of the CO₂ utilisation group at ESRI, said: “Considerable research focuses on capturing and storing CO₂ emissions, but an alternative to costly long-term storage is to use the captured CO₂ as a resource to make useful materials.

“That is why at Swansea we have converted waste CO₂ into a molecule called ethylene.

“This is the starting material for the manufacture of detergents, synthetic lubricants, and the vast majority of plastics like polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyvinyl chloride that are essential to modern society.

“Ethylene is currently produced at a very high temperature by steam from cracking oil. We need to find alternative ways of producing it, before we run out of oil.”

The utilisation group uses CO₂, water and ‘green’ electricity to generate a sustainable ethylene at room temperature. Central to this process is a new catalyst.

“We have demonstrated that copper and a polyamide additive can be combined to make an excellent catalyst.

“The polyamide doubles the efficiency of ethylene formation, achieving one of the highest rates of conversion ever recorded in standard bicarbonate water solutions.

“The potential for using CO₂ to make everyday materials is huge, and it would certainly benefit large-scale producers.

“We are now actively looking for industrial partners interested in helping to take this 21st-century technology forward.”

The research has been published in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Catalysis.